Training

"We just go out and see what develops"

My boys are too young for a structured running program. As eager as I am to have them run with me, I instead foster their natural desire to move. We try to play outside every day: running, biking, swimming, skiing, jumping, climbing and chasing the little girls next door. Nothing formal, we just go out and see what develops.

We have gone to races as a family. Last year at the Race for the Cure, I entered all of us so we could all have T-shirts and numbers. My older son ran/walked the 5-K course with his Daddy, taking walk breaks, depending more on the scenery than his need to rest. (He stopped to pet dogs, throw coins in fountains and check out a playground.) Meanwhile, I pulled my younger son in a wagon, along with a box of Krispy Kremes and a four-pack of Gatorade.

The boys love all the special food connected with marathon training. They enjoy hearing how they are eating pasta to put energy in their muscles, then demonstrate its effectiveness by running a few laps around the house. They are mad about gels to the extent that I have to hide my supplies if I want any left for my long runs.

My 5-year-old planned to ride his bike in a local bike race. He decided to train by riding about 6 miles to see a little girl who lived off the trail. He asked me to pin a gel to his shirt for later (just like Mom in the marathon). Then he rode to the girl's house and rang her doorbell. The two of them shared the gel on her swing-set.